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Sports & Leisure

The nation's passion for sports is obvious every day—at NASCAR races, kiddie soccer matches, and countless other contests. From a handball used by Abraham Lincoln to Chris Evert's tennis racket to a baseball signed by Jackie Robinson, the roughly 6.000 objects in the Museum's sports collections bear witness to the vital place of sports in the nation's history. Paper sports objects in the collections, such as souvenir programs and baseball cards, number in the hundreds of thousands.

Leisure collections encompass a different range of objects, including camping vehicles and gear, video games, playing cards, sportswear, exercise equipment, and Currier and Ives prints of fishing, hunting, and horseracing. Some 4,000 toys dating from the colonial period to the present are a special strength of the collections.

This Otto Moore basketball card is number 70 in a series of 264 that was manufactured by the Topps Company Inc. for the 1972-1973 National Basketball Association (NBA) season. The front of the card features a posed picture of the Houston Rockets center on a pink background. The card’s reverse features a small cartoon image illustrating the factoid that “Otto has gained over 20 pounds since entering NBA,” as well as a short biography and career statistics.

Moore played nine seasons in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Kansas City-Omaha Kings, and New Orleans Jazz. The center averaged 8.2 points and 8.2 rebounds during his 682 game-career.

This Harlem Globetrotters card is number 82 in a series of 84 featuring the Harlem Globetrotter basketball team that was issued by the Fleer Corporation in 1972. The front of the card features an image of an unidentified Harlem Globetrotters player. The card’s reverse features the history of the Globetrotters, detailing the players that played for the first team in 1927.

The Harlem Globetrotters—originally called the Savoy Big Five—were founded in 1927 as a promotion for the Savoy Ballroom nightclub in Chicago. The team soon changed their name to associate themselves with the African-American cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. This gave the Globetrotters the prestige of being associated with Harlem, while also letting white Midwestern audiences know what to expect when the team came to town. Before the advent and rise of the NBA, the Globetrotters drove to small towns in the Midwest and played competitive games against other semi professional teams in a practice known as “barnstorming.” The Globetrotters soon became one of the America’s best teams, and they began to incorporate “The Show” into their games to keep the score close. As the years went by, these tricks and comedic routines became the centerpiece of Globetrotter games that they are still known for today.

This Tom Boerwinkle basketball card is number 68 in a series of 175 that was manufactured by the Topps Company Inc. for the 1970-1971 National Basketball Association season. The card is longer than standard cards, measuring 2½ inches by 4 ¾ inches. The front of the card features a posed picture of the Chicago Bulls center on a yellow background. The card’s reverse features a small cartoon image illustrating the factoid that “At 7’-0” Tom is still growing,” as well as a short biography and career statistics.

It is apparent Boerwinkle is wearing his warm-ups on this card, which looks strange compared to modern cards but was common in basketball cards until the early 1970s. It is believed that the player’s would forfeit their fee to the team if the team name appeared so many players wore their jerseys backwards, wore their warm-ups, or posed in such a way to obscure the team name.

This Elmore Smith basketball card is number 76 in a series of 264 that was manufactured by the Topps Company Inc. for the 1972-1973 National Basketball Association (NBA) season. The front of the card features a posed picture of the Buffalo Braves center on a pink background. The card’s reverse features a small cartoon image illustrating the factoid that “Elmore is first 7-footer to play for Braves,” as well as a short biography and career statistics.

Elmore played in the NBA from 1971-1979 as a member of the Buffalo Braves, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Cleveland Cavaliers. Elmore led the league in blocks in 1974 with an average of 4.9 per game, which remains the third-highest ever recorded for a single season. Smith also set the single-game record for blocks with 17 in a 1973 game against Portland.